Who Killed the Monk Seals? $30,000 Reward Being Offered for Information

Anyone who is familiar with Hawaii knows that you don’t mess with the Monk Seals. They are an endangered species and they are very highly protected here throughout our island chain. So who killed them? A $30,000 reward is being offered to those with information that will lead authorities to the killers of the Monk Seals.

Tips can be confidential if needed. This is the largest reward of its kind ever offered and it is divided into three $10,000 increments. There are three dead Monk Seals, so information on all three will garner the entire amount offered.

Last week, William Aila Jr., chairman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, announced that a juvenile, male monk seal was found killed on Kauai on Jan. 2 following two similar cases on Molokai.

The animals was found with a foreign object in its skull and a necropsy was performed on Kauai, Aila said last week. Since then, Aila said, the case generated only two or three calls, Aila said today.

A third monk seal also was found dead on Molokai and remains under suspicion as an intentional killing, pending the results of a necropsy.

Today, Aila and Gibson announced a new toll-free, confidential hotline for tips that can lead to the $10,000 and $30,000 rewards — 1-855-DLNR-TIP.

“The intentional killing of any monk seals is not only illegal, it is inexcusable environmentally and culturally,” Aila said today.

Hawaiian monk seals live only in Hawaii. There are an estimated 1,100 to 1,200 monk seals thought to exist in the islands, but only 200 live in the main Hawaiian islands.

Why anyone would want to kill these animals is beyond me. However, this goes to show you that there are still sick people out there who get a kick out of harming helpless creatures.

If you do indeed have any information regarding these three Monk Seal killings, then don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and make the call. Help us all protect these endangered creatures.